Wendi C. Thomas: Be aware of who to call, then speak up

A group of students at Penn State, collect money for childhelpusa.org outside Beaver Stadium before an NCAA college football game against Nebraska Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 in State College, Pa. Penn State is playing for the first time in decades without former head coach Joe Paterno, after he was fired in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

We think we would have intervened.

Since it was reported that a Penn State grad assistant told a grand jury that he saw assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky raping a young boy in a campus shower in 2002, most of us have been indignant in our insistence: We would have stopped it.

With little or no thought for our own safety, we would have pulled Sandusky off the child. We would have hollered, perhaps startling Sandusky enough that the boy, whom he had pinned against the shower wall, could have escaped.

If for some reason our instinct was to run from the horror, we would have found our bearings quickly and called 911 instead of calling Dad, as Mike McQueary said he did, and later telling head coach Joe Paterno.

But what if we hadn't?

What if we'd only told our boss and then stayed silent for years?

In an e-mail dated Nov. 8 that McQueary sent to a friend, his story changed. "I did stop it, not physically, but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room," he wrote, adding that he reported it to police. The State College police and the campus police force said they have no record of McQueary making any report.

As much as we like to bray about how righteous we would be in the face of such abhorrent behavior, we might be wrong.

If only 10 percent of suspected child abuse is ever reported, that means there are thousands of adults who may have witnessed something that gave them pause.

They wondered what to do next and then did nothing.

In Tennessee, there is no need to wonder, as the law is clear. Any adult who suspects a child is being abused must report it directly to either law enforcement, the Department of Children's Services, or a Juvenile Court Judge.

In Mississippi, adults must report suspected abuse to the Department of Human Services by phone immediately.

Our laws are much stronger than those in Pennsylvania, where adults are legally if not morally covered if the suspected abuse is reported up the chain of command.

Look for that law to be revisited in the wake of Sandusky's indictment on charges of abusing eight boys over 15 years. On Wednesday, Sen. Bob Casey, R-Penn., introduced the "Speak Up to Protect Every Abused Kid" act that would mandate all states to pass a law that requires adults to report suspected abuse to authorities to be eligible for federal child abuse prevention funding.

In response to the Penn State scandal, the Child Advocacy Center sent an e-mail Wednesday reminding the 4,000 people on its mailing list of the Tennessee law and the services the center offers to protect children.

One recent addition is the Stewards of Children program, which teaches adults how to recognize and "react responsibly" to child abuse.

Fifty people were trained Wednesday in the three-hour program and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton pledged that in 2012, all Memphis Police Department officers will be trained.

The CAC hopes to reach the tipping point -- 5 percent of area adults, or 35,000 people -- within five years. With such a massive cadre of alert and trained adults, more children would be protected.

One change that all organizations can make is getting rid of the one-adult, one-child supervision guideline.

Children should never be left with a single adult alone -- the presence of multiple adults increases the odds that abuse would be "interruptable and observable," said Nancy Williams, the center's executive director.

"If there were two adults, the opportunity would be gone or at least diminished," Williams said.

It is up to adults to protect children, and that requires us to shake off the reluctance to get involved.

You may worry, Williams said, that you'll report your suspicions only to find out you were wrong.

"But what if you talked yourself out of it and you were right?" she asked.

"Can you live with what you know or you suspect?"

Ultimately, the choice should be simple, Williams said.

"You do what you can do... Let people who are the investigators investigate."

To learn more about the Child Advocacy Center's Stewards of Children program, go to memphiscac.org or call (901) 888-4363. Suspicions of child abuse can be reported to the Tennessee Child Abuse Hotline at (877) 237-0004.